Advanced anti-aircraft missiles which belonged to former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi have fallen into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a new report.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas are designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department.

Speaking to Aviation Week, which first broke this story, about the Russian made hardware, the Israeli official said,They are in the Gaza Strip. I dont know in what numbers. They also are in Lebanon.

According to the report, the weaponry was smuggled out of Libya and into Iran, and from there Hezbollah received their supply through Syria while Hamas received theirs through Egypt.

I've always wondered why a few Israeli passenger jets aren't downed by anti-aircraft missiles, a little poetic justice for Israel'e role in 9-11, as well as general blowback for Israel's regional hostilities.

Maybe Muslims just aren't as militant as their reputation suggests. Take Iran, they'll just sit there, talking tough and doing nothing. Israel will eventually bomb, and instead of Iran doing anything back, Iran will just insist that no real harm was done. Come on Iran, get some AA into the occupied territory.

And it does not appear they are really a threat against Israeli or western military aircraft. You always have to assume the opponent has capabilities.

According to Aviation Week the shoulder launched anti-aircraft system &#8211; while advanced &#8211; has been countered effectively by Western militaries, most notably by the British.

&#8220;&#8230;in the few times the missiles have seen combat, they did not affect the course of the conflict. Although the weapon is&#65279; one of the more advanced Manpads (Man-portable air-defense systems) on the world market, Western electronic warfare experts appear to have quickly developed operational techniques to defeat it. Even without the most advanced laser-based directed infrared countermeasures systems, British WAH-64 Apache attack helicopters faced a number of SA-24 firings and defeated them,&#8221; writes Aviation Week.

And it does not appear they are really a threat against Israeli or western military aircraft. You always have to assume the opponent has capabilities.

According to Aviation Week the shoulder launched anti-aircraft system  while advanced  has been countered effectively by Western militaries, most notably by the British.

 in the few times the missiles have seen combat, they did not affect the course of the conflict. Although the weapon is&#65279; one of the more advanced Manpads (Man-portable air-defense systems) on the world market, Western electronic warfare experts appear to have quickly developed operational techniques to defeat it. Even without the most advanced laser-based directed infrared countermeasures systems, British WAH-64 Apache attack helicopters faced a number of SA-24 firings and defeated them, writes Aviation Week.

Advanced anti-aircraft missiles which belonged to former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi have fallen into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a new report.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas are designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department.

Speaking to Aviation Week, which first broke this story, about the Russian made hardware, the Israeli official said,&#8220;They are in the Gaza Strip. I don&#8217;t know in what numbers. They also are in Lebanon.&#8221;

According to the report, the weaponry was smuggled out of Libya and into Iran, and from there Hezbollah received their supply through Syria while Hamas received theirs through Egypt.

Libya is a majority Muslim country whose stance regarding Israel has been pretty clear. That's where I expected they were before Gaddafi was dealt down. That Libya now finds a faster pace in the advanced weaponry aquisition is not surprising either since the US has stepped back and Iran/Turkey/Russia/China/NK are highly active in the Middle Eastern shipping routes.

That Libya would would be positioning at Israel doesn't surprise me at all. You can be certain that Israel has Libya under a watchful eye.

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